A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is both a whimsical fantasy and a social satire chock-full of brilliant Twainisms. Hank Morgan, a nineteenth-century American-a Connecticut Yankee-by a stroke of fate is sent back into time to sixth-century England and ends up in Camelot and King Arthur’s Court. Although of average intelligence, he finds himself with knowledge beyond any of those in the sixth century, and he uses it to become the king’s right hand man and to challenge Merlin as the court magician. Astounded at the way of life in Camelot, Hank does the only thing he can think of to do: change them. In his attempt to civilize medieval Camelot, he experiences many challenges and misadventures.

In this mischievous yarn by Mark Twain, a Yankee mechanic named Hank Morgan is knocked unconscious in a fight and awakens to find himself at Camelot in AD 528. Brought before the knights of the Round Table, he is condemned to death but saves himself by using his nineteenth-century scientific knowledge to pose as a powerful magician. After correctly predicting an eclipse, Hank is made minister to King Arthur, and goes on to counsel him on such matters as gunpowder, electricity, and industrial methods. But when he attempts to better the condition of the peasantry, he meets opposition from the church, knights, and sorcerers, and finds his efforts at enlightenment turned against him.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is both a rollicking romantic fantasy and a canny social satire that only one of America’s greatest writers could pen.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is a humorous 1889 novel by American writer Mark Twain. In it, a Connecticut engineer is accidentally transported back to the time of King Arthur. He convinces the inhabitants of that time that he is a magician, and uses his knowledge of modern technology to stun them with such feats as demolitions, fireworks, and the shoring up of a holy well. Twain wrote the book as a satire of Romantic notions of chivalry after a dream in which he was a knight himself, noting the inconvenient weight of the armor.

The concept of this story was given in a preface by author Mark Twain. He wrote:

The ungentle laws and customs touched upon in this tale are historical, and the episodes which are used to illustrate them are also historical. It is not pretended that these laws and customs existed in England in the sixth century; no, it is only pretended that inasmuch as they existed in the English and other civilizations of far later times, it is safe to consider that it is no libel upon the sixth century to suppose them to have been in practice in that day also. One is quite justified in inferring that whatever one of these laws or customs was lacking in that remote time, its place was competently filled by a worse one.

The question as to whether there is such a thing as divine right of kings is not settled in this book. It was found too difficult. That the executive head of a nation should be a person of lofty character and extraordinary ability was manifest and indisputable; that none but the Deity could select that head unerringly, was also manifest and indisputable; that the Deity ought to make that selection, then, was likewise manifest and indisputable; consequently, that He does make it, as claimed, was an unavoidable deduction.

When Hank Morgan is cracked on the head by a crowbar in 19th-century Connecticut, one of literature’s most extraordinary fantasy tales begins to unfold. Humorous, devilishly insightful, and resoundingly contemporary, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court remains one of the most celebrated stories in the canon of American writing. Awakening to find himself in the England of King Arthur, Morgan discovers a world of fear, injustice, and ignorance hiding behind a Utopian mirage. The tough-minded Yankee-the embodiment of scientific knowledge-must overcome daunting obstacles, including Merlin the Magician, as he sets out to enlighten sixth-century England. Only Mark Twain’s unparalleled gift for story-telling could produce this acrobatic tour de force that moves from broad comedy to biting social satire, and from the pure joy of wild high jinks to deeply probing insights into the nature of man. Norman Dietz’s wry narration and wonderful comedic sense will enchant listeners for generations to come.

When Connecticut mechanic and foreman Hank Morgan is knocked unconscious, he wakes not to the familiar scenes of nineteenth-century America, but to the bewildering sights and sounds of sixth-century Camelot.

Although confused at first and quickly imprisoned, he soon realizes that his knowledge of the future can transform his fate. Correctly predicting a solar eclipse from inside his prison cell, Morgan terrifies the people of England into releasing him and swiftly establishes himself as the most powerful magician in the land, stronger than Merlin and greatly admired by Arthur himself. But the Connecticut Yankee wishes for more than simply a place at the Round Table. Soon, he begins a far greater struggle: to bring American democratic ideals to Old England.

Complex and fascinating, A Connecticut Yankee is a darkly comic consideration of the nature of human nature and society.

“Upon the border of a remote and out-of-the-way village in south-western Missouri lived an old farmer named John Gray…”In 1876, the same year The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published, Mark Twain wrote a story for The Atlantic Monthly. He meant it as a “blind novelette”–a challenge to other writers to submit their own ending of the story in a national competition. Twain asked his editor at The Atlantic to request submissions from leading authors of the day, including Henry James.Perhaps because few writers could write as well as Twain, no one responded, and Twain’s original complete manuscript languished in literary hibernation. It was rediscovered in 1995 and will appear in The Atlantic Monthly in summer 2001, having come full circle. Set in the fictional town of Deer Lick, Missouri, A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage chronicles the fortunes of a farmer determined to have his daughter marry the son of a wealthy man. It’s a charming story in the Twain tradition and a delightful addition to his legacy.

In April 1878, Mark Twain and his family traveled to Europe. Overloaded with creative ideas, Twain had hoped that the sojourn would spark his creativity enough to bring at least one of the books in his head to fruition. Instead, he wrote of his walking tour of Europe, describing his impressions of the Black Forest, the Matterhorn, and other attractions. Neglected for years, A Tramp Abroad sparkles with Twain’s shrewd observations and highly opinionated comments on Old World culture and showcases his unparalleled ability to integrate humorous sketches, autobiographical tidbits, and historical anecdotes in a consistently entertaining narrative. Cast in the form of a walking tour through Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, and England, A Tramp Abroad includes among its adventures a voyage by raft down the Neckar and an ascent of Mont Blanc by telescope, as well as the author’s attempts to study art—a wholly imagined activity Twain “authenticated” with his own wonderfully primitive pictures. This book reveals Mark Twain as a mature writer and is filled with brilliant prose, insightful wit, and Twain’s unerring instinct for the truth.

Mark Twain’s classic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, tells the story of a teenaged misfit who finds himself floating on a raft down the Mississippi River with an escaping slave, Jim. In the course of their perilous journey, Huck and Jim meet adventure, danger, and a cast of characters who are sometimes menacing and often hilarious. Though some of the situations in Huckleberry Finn are funny in themselves (the cockeyed Shakespeare production in Chapter 21 leaps instantly to mind), this book’s humor is found mostly in Huck’s unique worldview and his way of expressing himself. Describing his brief sojourn with the Widow Douglas after she adopts him, Huck says, “After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers, and I was in a sweat to find out all about him; but by and by she let it out that Moses had been dead a considerable long time; so then I didn’t care no more about him, because I don’t take no stock in dead people”. Underlying Twain’s good humor is a dark subcurrent of Antebellum cruelty and injustice that makes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a frequently funny book with a serious message.

“I’ve struck it!” Mark Twain wrote in a 1904 letter to a friend. “And I will give it away—to you. You will never know how much enjoyment you have lost until you get to dictating your autobiography.”

Thus, after dozens of false starts and hundreds of pages, Twain embarked on his “Final (and Right) Plan” for telling the story of his life. His innovative notion—to “talk only about the thing which interests you for the moment”—meant that his thoughts could range freely. The strict instruction that many of these texts remain unpublished for one hundred years meant that when they came out, he would be “dead, and unaware, and indifferent,” and that he was therefore free to speak his “whole frank mind.”

The year 2010 marked the one hundredth anniversary of Twain’s death. In celebration of this important milestone, here, for the first time, is Mark Twain’s uncensored autobiography, in its entirety, exactly as he left it. This major literary event offers the first of three volumes and presents Mark Twain’s authentic and unsuppressed voice, brimming with humor, ideas, and opinions, and speaking clearly from the grave, as he intended.

Mark Twain’s complete, uncensored Autobiography was an instant bestseller when the first volume was published in 2010, on the centennial of the author’s death, as he requested. Published to rave reviews, the Autobiography was hailed as the capstone of Twain’s career. It captures his authentic and unsuppressed voice, speaking clearly from the grave and brimming with humor, ideas, and opinions.

The eagerly awaited second volume delves deeper into Twain’s life, uncovering the many roles he played in his private and public worlds. Filled with his characteristic blend of humor and ire, the narrative ranges effortlessly across the contemporary scene. He shares his views on writing and speaking, his preoccupation with money, and his contempt for the politics and politicians of his day. Affectionate and scathing by turns, his intractable curiosity and candor are everywhere on view.

The surprising final chapter of a great American life

When the first volume of Mark Twain’s uncensored Autobiography was published in 2010, it was hailed as an essential addition to the shelf of his works and a crucial document for our understanding of the great humorist’s life and times. This third and final volume crowns and completes his life’s work. Like its companion volumes, it chronicles Twain’s inner and outer life through a series of daily dictations that go wherever his fancy leads.

Created from March 1907 to December 1909, these dictations present Mark Twain at the end of his life: receiving an honorary degree from Oxford University; railing against Theodore Roosevelt, founding numerous clubs; incredulous at an exhibition of the Holy Grail; credulous about the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays; relaxing in Bermuda; observing (and investing in) new technologies. The autobiography’s “Closing Words” movingly commemorate his daughter Jean, who died on Christmas Eve 1909. Also included in this volume is the previously unpublished “Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript,” Mark Twain’s caustic indictment of his “putrescent pair” of secretaries and the havoc that erupted in his house during their residency.

Fitfully published in fragments at intervals throughout the twentieth century, Autobiography of Mark Twain has now been critically reconstructed and made available as it was intended to be read. Fully annotated by the editors of the Mark Twain Project, the complete Autobiography emerges as a landmark publication in American literature.

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is a wild yarn involving a case of mistaken identity, a gambler who’d bet on anything, and a very unusual frog named Daniel Webster. First published in The Saturday Press in 1865, the tale was immensely popular, and in 1867 an expanded version was published with 26 additional short stories, told as only Mark Twain could tell them.

I intend that this autobiography shall become a model for all future autobiographies when it is published after my death, and I also intend that it shall be read and admired a good many centuries because of its form and method–a form and method whereby the past and the present are constantly brought face to face, resulting in contrasts which newly fire up the interest all along, like contact of flint with steel. Moreover, this autobiography of mine does not select from my life its showy episodes but deals mainly in the common experiences which go to make up the life of the average human being, because these episodes are of a sort which he is familiar with in his own life, and in which he sees his own life reflected and set down in print.

Having just lost a daughter to meningitis, Mark Twain wrote this book out of outrage toward the Christian Science movement and its founder Mary Baker Eddy. This movement emphasized the effects of prayer on healing the body and relieving sicknesses and other ailments. Although the founder of Christian Science appears to be altruistic with good intentions, Twain saw fraudulence and greed. Using his humor and wit, Mark Twain picks apart the movement in hopes of opening eyes to its falsehood.

While Mark Twain is most often identified with his childhood home on the Mississippi, he wrote many of his enduring classics during the years he lived in Hartford, Connecticut. He had come a long way from Hannibal when he focused his irreverent humor on medieval tales, and wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. The hit on the head that sent protagonist Hank Morgan back through 13 centuries did not affect his natural resourcefulness. Using his knowledge of an upcoming eclipse, Hank escapes a death sentence, and secures an important position at court. Gradually, he introduces 19th century technology so the clever Morgan soon has an easy life. That does not stop him from making disparaging, tongue-in-cheek remarks about the inequalities and imperfections of life in Camelot. Twain weaves many of the well-known Arthurian characters into his story, and he includes a pitched battle between Morgan’s men and the nobility.

Mark Twain spills his wit and whimsical sense of humor onto the pages of his novel The Diaries of Adam and Eve. The story tells of the events that took place in the Garden of Eden prior to the entrance of the deceitful serpent. Adam and Eve are not exactly getting along. Through the struggles listed in their diaries, one can safely assume that these two very different human beings are each other’s greatest source of frustration. Intended as a comical insight into the complex relations between men and women, The Diaries of Adam and Eve displays a progression from continual annoyance to a perfect partnership.

Though known for his classic novels of adventure and coming of age, Mark Twain is equally esteemed for his short stories, which abound with the colorful characters and often comic antics readers have come to expect from his longer works. Included here is “Eve’s Diary,” the comic tale of Eve, the first woman in the Judeao-Christian creation story. Written in diary form, Eve offers a first-person account of her relationship with Adam, life in Eden, and their experiences after the Fall. “Eve’s Diary” is one of many in a series of stories that Twain wrote, all revolving around Adam and Eve.

Proceeds from sale of this title go to Reach Out and Read, an innovative literacy advocacy organization.

Bound on a lecture trip around the world, Mark Twain turns his keen satiric eye to foreign lands in Following the Equator. This vivid chronicle of a sea voyage on the Pacific Ocean displays Twain’s eye for the unusual, his wide-ranging curiosity, and his delight in embellishing the facts. The personalities of the ship’s crew and passengers, the poetry of Australian place names, the success of women’s suffrage in New Zealand, an account of the Sepoy Mutiny, and reflections on the Boer War as an expression of imperialistic morality, among other topics, are the focus of his wry humor and redoubtable powers of observation. Following the Equator is an evocative and highly unique American portrait of nineteenth-century travel and customs.

First published in 1873, The Gilded Age is both a biting satire and a revealing portrait of post-Civil War America-an age of corruption when crooked land speculators, ruthless bankers, and dishonest politicians voraciously took advantage of the nation’s peacetime optimism. With his characteristic wit and perception, Mark Twain and his collaborator, Charles Dudley Warner, attack the greed, lust, and naivete of their own time in a work which endures as a valuable social document and one of America’s most important satirical novels.

These ten treasured stories from the most influential authors of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are selected for their literary importance as well as their dramatic, oral qualities. The following stories are included in this collection:

“The One-Million-Pound Bank Note” by Mark Twain

“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” by Mark Twain

“A Visit to Niagara” by Mark Twain

“Mysterious Visit” by Mark Twain

“The Blue Hotel” by Stephen Crane

“The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” by Stephen Crane

“The Eyes of the Panther” by Ambrose Bierce

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce

“The Love of Life” by Jack London

“To Build a Fire” by Jack London

In 1885, while The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was becoming one of the bestselling American classics of modern times, Mark Twain began this sequel in which Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, and Jim head west on the trail of two white girls kidnapped by Sioux warriors. Fifteen thousand words into the work, Twain stopped in the middle of a sentence, never to go back. The unfinished story sat on dusty shelves for more than a hundred years until author Lee Nelson decided to finish it, using Twain’s incomplete manuscripts. The result is a story of adventure, wit, and wisdom, with readers saying they can’t tell where Twain leaves off and Nelson begins. Tom and Huck seek true love while tramping through Indian country, stealing from the US Army, facing a gunfight and hangman’s noose in California, and learning the hard way that “book Injuns and real Injuns ain’t the same.”

What do you get when you combine classic travel literature with the inimitable wit of Mark Twain? The Innocents Abroad, is a keenly observant, politically incorrect and often hilarious narration of the author’s cruise to the Holy Land aboard a retired Civil War ship. First published in 1869 and the bestselling of Twain’s works in his lifetime, The Innocents Abroad will delight listeners with the celebrated author’s musings on historic landmarks, cultural differences and silly travelling companions.

Is Shakespeare Dead? is a short, semi-autobiographical work by American humorist Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. It explores the controversy over the authorship of the Shakespearean literary canon via satire, anecdote, and extensive quotation of contemporary authors on the subject. The original publication spans only 150 pages, and the formatting leaves roughly half of each page blank. The spine is thread bound. It was published in April of 1909 by Harper Brothers, twelve months before Mark Twain’s death. In the book, Clemens clearly states his opinion that Shakespeare of Stratford was not the author of the canon, and lends tentative support to the Baconians. The book opens with a scene from his early adulthood, where he was trained to be a steamboat pilot by an elder who often argued with him over the controversy. (Quote from wikipedia.org)

Most people are unaware that Mark Twain spent over a decade researching Saint Joan of Arc and wrote what he considered to be his greatest work–Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc–originally published in Harper’s Magazine in 1895 as chapters attributed to the fictitious author Sieur Louis de Conte. When the public found out that Twain was actually the author, many were suspicious, thinking Twain was perpetrating some kind of a joke. Twain’s biographer Albert Paine defends Twain saying it is actually his greatest writing: “Considered from every point of view, Joan of Arc is Mark Twain’s supreme literary expression, the loftiest, the most delicate, the most luminous example of his work.”

Few people know that Mark Twain wrote a major work on Joan of Arc. Still fewer know that he considered it not only his most important but also his best work. Twain spent twelve years in research and many months in France doing archival work and then made several attempts until he felt he finally had the story he wanted to tell. He reached his conclusion about Joan’s unique place in history only after studying in detail accounts written by both sides: the French, for whom she raised an army to return the Dauphin to the throne, and the English, who fought the French in the Hundred Year’s War and were ultimately Joan’s executioners. This is a fascinating and remarkably accurate biography of the life and mission of Joan of Arc told by one of this country’s greatest storytellers.

Letters from Hawaii contains a collection of letters Mark Twain wrote for a newspaper publication. From a long, turbulent journey to the island, to his encounters with the islanders and the myriad englishmen who have taken up residence on the island. These letters are sure to be an entertaining and well written account of the humours encounters and scenic adventures that Twain experienced on his journey to Hawaii.

A brilliant amalgam of remembrance and reportage, by turns satiric, celebratory, nostalgic, and melancholy, Life on the Mississippi evokes the great river that Mark Twain knew as a boy and young man and the one he revisited as a mature and successful author. Written between the publication of his two greatest novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain’s rich portrait of the Mississippi marks a distinctive transition in the life of the river and the nation, from the boom years preceding the Civil War to the sober times that followed it.

In Life on the Mississippi, the great American humorist Mark Twain recounts his journeys on the mighty Mississippi river. Covering the beginnings of his career as steamboat pilot, Twain entertains us with his wit, anecdotes and wild stories of the myriad characters and adventures he encounters. From a brief history of the Mississippi we are taken on to a recollection of the river life with its rich history and engaging narrative, newcomers and fans of Twain alike.

The Mississippi River, known as “America’s river,” and Mark Twain are practically synonymous in American culture. The popularity of Twain’s steamboat and steamboat pilot on the ever-changing Mississippi has endured for over a century.

A brilliant amalgam of remembrance and reportage, by turns satiric, celebratory, nostalgic, and melancholy, Life on the Mississippi evokes the great river that Mark Twain knew as a boy and young man and the one he revisited as a mature and successful author. Written between the publication of his two greatest novels, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Twain’s rich portrait of the Mississippi marks a distinctive transition in the life of the river and the nation, from the boom years preceding the Civil War to the sober times that followed it.

Samuel Clemens became a licensed river pilot at the age of twenty-four under the apprenticeship of Horace Bixby, pilot of the Paul Jones. His name, Mark Twain, was derived from the river pilot term describing safe navigating conditions, or “mark two fathoms.” This term was shortened to “mark twain” by the leadsmen whose job it was to monitor the water’s depth and report it to the pilot.

Although Mark Twain used his childhood experiences growing up along the Mississippi in numerous works, nowhere is the river and the pilot’s life more thoroughly described than in Life on the Mississippi.

Fashioned from the same experiences that would inspire the masterpiece Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi is Mark Twain’s most brilliant and most personal nonfiction work. It is at once an affectionate evocation of the vital river life in the steamboat era and a melancholy reminiscence of its passing after the Civil War, a priceless collection of humorous anecdotes and folktales, and a unique glimpse into Twain’s life before he began to write. Written in a prose style that has been hailed as among the greatest in English literature, Life on the Mississippi established Twain as not only the most popular humorist of his time but also America’s most profound chronicler of the human comedy.

The fascinating life of storyteller and humorist Mark Twain is revealed in this one man performance based on Twain’s writings. The early years of Samuel Clemens, the Mississippi River experiences, and his move to the silver mining area of Nevada are portrayed by exuberant actor McAvoy Layne. Some of the most famous tales, from The Blue Jay Yarn to The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County are woven into the history of this most colorful author. Amusing stories from Letters from the Sandwich Islands and questions from the live audience conclude this delightful performance.

Irreverent, charming, and eminently quotable, this handbook—an eccentric etiquette guide for the human race—contains sixty-nine aphorisms, anecdotes, whimsical suggestions, maxims, and cautionary tales from Mark Twain’s private and published writings. It dispenses advice and reflections on family life and public manners; opinions on topics such as dress, health, food, and childrearing and safety; and more specialized tips, such as those for dealing with annoying salesmen and burglars. Culled from Twain’s personal letters, autobiographical writings, speeches, novels, and sketches, these pieces are delightfully fresh, witty, startlingly relevant, and bursting with Twain’s characteristic ebullience for life. They also remind us exactly how Mark Twain came to be the most distinctive and well-known American literary voice in the world. These texts, some of them new or out of print for decades, have been selected and meticulously prepared by the editors at the Mark Twain Project.

The Huck Finn of foreign correspondents provides a colorful account of old Honolulu, the island nobility, the City of Refuge on the Kona coast, and the active volcano of Kilauea. These selections of Mark Twain’s newspaper dispatches are both charming and informative. The light touch of the great humorist is seldom missing as he reveals the “loveliest fleet of islands that lie anchored in any ocean.” This recording evokes the historical era with the eye of a verbal artist and the voice of the performing artist.

Master wit Mark Twain selected these twenty-seven stories himself by fifteen of his favorite nineteenth century authors. The order follows that which Twain placed them in in the original anthology, published in 1888. He indulged his comic fancy rather than making a textbook in which all themes or authors are placed together, saying that “This way, you will have to peruse the whole thing before discovering that one of your favorites is not included.” However, it is no joke that these are the authors represented: Charles Dudley Warner, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Eugene Field, William D. Howells, James M. Bailey, Joel Chandler Harris, Katherine Kent Child Walker, Robert J. Burdette, Sam Davis, Artemus Ward, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Francis Lee Pratt, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Frederick W. Cozzens, and Twain himself.

Mark Twain is a master of adventure, mystery, and wit. This collection, containing three tales of mystery, offers a healthy dose of each—and more! In Tom Sawyer, Detective, a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Tom Sawyer Abroad, take a ride down the Mississippi to Uncle Silas’ farm. Mark Twain’s satirical take on the immensely popular detective novels of the time provides enough twists and turns to satisfy any avid mystery fan. In “The Stolen White Elephant,” Mark Twain is a character in his own story! Listeners will delight in this tale of an Indian elephant getting lost in New Jersey—and the hunt that ensues. Finally, in “A Double-Barreled Detective Story,” Sherlock Holmes comes to America! When the legendary detective finds himself in the American West, his extraordinary skills and scientific methods are called upon once more.

Twain’s biting satire, cunning wit, and provocative mysteries will entertain listeners of all ages.

Regarded by many as the most luminous example of Twain’s work, this historical novel chronicles the French heroine’s life, as purportedly told by her longtime friend–Sieur Louis de Conte. A panorama of stirring scenes recount Joan’s childhood in Domremy, the story of her voices, the fight for Orleans, the splendid march to Rheims, and much more. An amazing record that disclosed Twain’s unrestrained admiration for Joan’s nobility of character, the book is matchless in its workmanship–one of Twain’s lesser-known novels that will charm and delightfully surprise his admirers and devotees.

After the young Prince Edward VI of England and a peasant boy switch places, the “little king” tries to escape from a world in which he must beg for food, sleep with rodents, face ridicule, and avoid assassination. Meanwhile, the peasant, who is now the prince, dreads exposure and possible execution; members of the Court believe he has gone mad. As a result of the swap, both boys learn that social class, like so much of life, is determined by chance and random circumstance. Originally published in 1881, The Prince and the Pauper is one of Mark Twain’s earliest social satires. With his caustic wit and biting irony, Twain satirizes the power of the monarchy, unjust laws and barbaric punishments, superstitions, and religious intolerance. Although usually viewed as a child’s story, The Prince and the Pauper offers adults critical insight into a people and time period not really all that different from our own.

In 1894, while enduring a period of personal turbulence, Mark Twain penned this fascinating tale set in the idyllic river community of his childhood. Alternating between comedy and tragedy, irony and gravity, Pudd’nhead Wilson mirrors much of the social and moral unrest of the time. When a mulatto slave woman switches her own infant with the look-alike son of a wealthy merchant, it takes Pudd’nhead Wilson, the town eccentric, to put things right again.

In 1861, young Mark Twain found himself adrift as a tenderfoot in the Wild West. Roughing It is a hilarious record of his travels over a six-year period that comes to life with his inimitable mixture of reporting, social satire, and rollicking tall tales. Twain reflects on his scuffling years mining silver in Nevada, working at a Virginia City newspaper, being down-and-out in San Francisco, reporting for a newspaper from Hawaii, and more.

This humorous account is a patchwork of personal anecdotes and tall tales, many of them told in the “vigorous new vernacular” of the West.

Selling seventy-five thousand copies within a year of its publication in 1872, Roughing It was greeted as a work of “wild, preposterous invention and sublime exaggeration” whose satiric humor made “pretension and false dignity ridiculous.” Meticulously restored from a variety of original sources, this text adheres to the author’s wishes in thousands of details of wording, spelling, and punctuation.

To Calvin H. Higbie, of California, an honest man, a genial comrade and a steadfast friend, this book is inscribed by the author, in memory of the curious time when we two were millionaires for ten days. So the witty Mark Twain dedicates his second travelogue and charming SEMI-sequel to The Innocents Abroad. Listeners to Roughing It will find themselves laughing along with the author, as the Wild West gets a little bit wilder in this charming edition of Twain’s American adventures, mishaps and musings.

Two American originals, Mark Twain and the West, come together in this documentary of the author’s seven-year “pleasure trip” to the silver mines of Nevada. Twain had originally planned the trip to be a three-month “vacation;” not surprisingly for someone of Twain’s temperament, the trip lasted seven years. His journey, like his book, has a way of taking ever-unexpected turns.

Originally published over one hundred years ago, Roughing It is Mark Twain’s second major work, after the success of his 1869 travel book, Innocents Abroad. This humorous travel book, based on Twain’s stagecoach journey through the American West and his adventures in the Pacific islands, is full of colorful caricatures of outlandish locals and detailed sketches of frontier life. Roughing It describes how the narrator, a polite greenhorn from the East, is initiated into the rough-and-tumble society of the frontier. He works his way through Nevada, California, and the Pacific islands as a prospector, journalist, and lecturer, and along the way he meets a number of colorful characters. Wonderfully entertaining, Twain successfully finds humor in spite of his mishaps while also giving the listener insight into that time and place of American history.

Sketches New and Old is a compilation of fictional stories written by Mark Twain. Among them is “A Ghost Story”. In each story, one can catch a great sense of Twain’s humor and creativity. These classic sketches from Twain are no longer than 10 minutes, but all show his quick witted humor in response to the events of the day.A real storyteller can make a great story out of anything, even the most trivial occurrence. Composed between 1863 and 1875, the sixty-three often outrageous sketches in Sketches, New and Old contain, for instance, a piece about the difficulty of getting a pocket watch repaired properly; complaints about barbers and office bores; and satirical comments on bureaucrats, courts of law, the profession of journalism, the claims of science, and the workings of government. In Mark Twain’s hands, all these potentially dry and dull topics bristle with vitality and interest. “What fascinates Twain,” Lee Smith writes in her introduction, is how people “react to the things that happen to them.” Twain “lets them speak in their own voices by and large, in a chorus ranging from high-flown oratory to the plain speech of working people…. It seems generally true that the more elevated the speech, the likelier that person is to be an idiot; words of wisdom and common sense are invariably voiced by the common man”–or woman. “The most profound and moving sketch in this whole collection” Smith writes, is one “told by a freed slave.” The candid, ironic, playful, and petulant sketches in this volume are indispensable to our understanding of a harried genius during thirteen quite amazing years.

When Mark Twain’s daughter Susie wrote a letter to Santa Claus, her father wrote back, signing Santa’s name. Charming and heartwarming, this version of the short letter was recorded as part of Dreamscape’s Classic Christmas Stories: A Collection of Timeless Holiday Tales.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written throughout in vernacular English, characterized by local color regionalisms. It is told in the first person by Huckleberry “Huck” Finn, the narrator of two other Twain novels (Tom Sawyer Abroad and Tom Sawyer, Detective) and a friend of Tom Sawyer. It is a direct sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
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Production executive Avalon Giuliano
ICON Intern Eden Giuliano
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Geoffrey Giuliano is the author of over thirty internationally bestselling biographies, including the London Sunday Times bestseller Blackbird: The Life and Times of Paul McCartney and Dark Horse: The Private Life of George Harrison. He can be heard on the Westwood One Radio Network and has written and produced over seven hundred original spoken-word albums and video documentaries on various aspects of popular culture. He is also a well known movie actor.

Get a comprehensive understanding of the classic tale of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with the help of this study guide showcasing the story in a new and innovative way.

Mark Twain’s classic and controversial novel weaves together adventure, comedy, and satire in the story of Huck’s struggle to escape his abusive father, and his companion Jim’s fight for freedom in the time of slavery.

Huckleberry Finn, rebel against school and church, casual inheritor of gold treasure, rafter of the Mississippi, and savior of Jim the runaway slave, is the archetypal American maverick.
Fleeing the respectable society that wants to “sivilize” him, Huck Finn shoves off with Jim on a rhapsodic raft journey down the Mississippi River. The two bind themselves to one another, becoming intimate friends and agreeing “there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.”
As Huck learns about love, responsibility, and morality, the trip becomes a metaphoric voyage through his own soul, culminating in the glorious moment when he decides to “go to hell” rather than return Jim to slavery.
Mark Twain defined classic as “a book which people praise and don’t read”; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a happy exception to his own rule. Twain’s mastery of dialect, coupled with his famous wit, has made Huckleberry Finn one of the most loved and distinctly American classics ever written.

One of the greatest treats in all world literature, this masterpiece from Mark Twain is revolutionary. It offers both brilliant humor and tragedy as Huck and Jim explore moral dilemmas of slavery and freedom. Huck, the narrator, is shrewd, ingenious, and literal–he reports on everything he sees, which allows the listener to experience the hypocrisy of “sivilization.” This superb reading by Patrick Fraley is rich in the color and adventurous spirit of the Mississippi River. It captures the world and people that Mark Twain knew and loved.

Enriched Classics offer readers accessible editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and commentary. Each book includes educational tools alongside the text, enabling students and readers alike to gain a deeper and more developed understanding of the writer and their work.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn follows Tom Sawyer’s best friend on his wildly entertaining exploits with runaway slave, Jim, recounted in vernacular English and vibrant descriptions of life along the Mississippi River. Set in a Southern antebellum society, which had ceased to exist at the time of its publication, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is often regarded as a scathing satire on the institution of racism and the attitudes that supported it. However, it is also a playful story about the joys and evils of childhood as well as the limitless possibilities it allows.

Enriched Classics enhance your engagement by introducing and explaining the historical and cultural significance of the work, the author’s personal history, and what impact this book had on subsequent scholarship. Each book includes discussion questions that help clarify and reinforce major themes and reading recommendations for further research.

Read with confidence.

Huck Finn is an orphaned drifter who loves freedom more than respectability. He isn’t above lying and stealing, but he faces a battle with his conscience when he meets up with a runaway slave named Jim, who provides him with his first experiences of love, acceptance, and a sense of responsibility.

The title character of this famous novel tells his own story in a straightforward narrative laced with shrewd, sharp comments on human nature. The boy’s adventures along the Mississippi River provide a framework for a series of moral lessons, revelations of a corrupt society, and contrasts between innocence and hypocrisy. The colorful cast of characters—including the crafty grifters, the Duke and the King—help make this a memorable classic.

Following the events of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn is under the watchful stewardship of the Widow Douglas. However, when he is forced back into his drunken father’s custody, Huck fakes his own death and runs off down river. In the process, he meets up with Jim, a runaway slave, and the two become friends as well as travel companions. Their adventures lead them through many twists and turns through the American South, embarking on a legendary journey.

An unforgettable story of a boy’s adventures in the Mississippi Valley, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn will captivate listeners of all ages with its vivid recreation of the history, the people, and the language of the nineteenth-century American South.

A fine, exclusive edition of one of literature’s most beloved stories. 

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a thirteen-year-old boy, Huck, is in search of adventure on the beautiful shores of the Mississippi River before the Civil War in the American south.

When Huck escapes kidnapping by his own drunken father, he decides to find a canoe to shove off down the river, leaving behind his life of confinement and civilization. Soon Huck comes across Jim, Miss Watson’s slave. While traveling down the river, Huck and Jim have many adventures, but more importantly, during many long talks, they become the best of friends, both in search of freedom.¬†The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn¬†is regarded by many critics and scholars to be the first ‚ÄúGreat American novel.‚Äù

This unique edition of Mark Twain’s beloved tale is a giftable volume fiction lovers will treasure.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of four classic titles available as part of the Seasons Editions. This set also includes Jane Eyre, Persuasion, and The Wonderland Collection.

Who could forget the pranks, the adventures, the sheer fun of Tom Sawyer? From Tom’s sly trickery with the whitewashed fence to his and Becky Thatcher’s calamities in Bat Cave, the enjoyment never ends.

Just what did boys do in a small town during the mid-1800s, a time when there were no televisions, no arcades, and no videos? They whitewashed fences, floated down rivers, traded marbles, formed secret societies, smoked pipes, and, on occasion, managed to attend their own funerals. Yes, they may have been a bit mischievous, but as Aunt Polly said of Tom when she believed him to be dead, “He was the best-hearted boy that ever was.” Aunt Polly’s sentiments reveal one of Mark Twain’s cardinal philosophies: In this deceitful and infirm world, innocence can be found only in the heart of a boy.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a humorous and nostalgic book depicting the carefree days of boyhood in a small Midwestern town. The characters are based on Twain’s schoolmates and the town, Hannibal, Missouri, is where Twain grew up.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is an1876 novel by Mark Twain about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1840s in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, inspired by Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy. In the novel Sawyer has several adventures, often with his friend Huckleberry Finn. Originally a commercial failure, the book ended up being the best selling of any of Twain’s works during his lifetime.
Edited by Macc Kay
Production executive Avalon Giuliano
ICON Intern Eden Giuliano
Music By AudioNautix With Their Kind Permission
©2020 Eden Garret Giuliano (P) Eden Garret Giuliano
Geoffrey Giuliano is the author of over thirty internationally bestselling biographies, including the London Sunday Times bestseller Blackbird: The Life and Times of Paul McCartney and Dark Horse: The Private Life of George Harrison. He can be heard on the Westwood One Radio Network and has written and produced over seven hundred original spoken-word albums and video documentaries on various aspects of popular culture. He is also a well known movie actor.

Well over a century has passed since the publication of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in 1876, but time has done little to diminish the appeal and enjoyment of this classic story of growing up in midwestern America. The world Mark Twain envisioned for his precocious hero is a “boy-perfect” one, where life is perpetual vacation, where good and evil are clearly defined, awe-inspiring contradictions, and where the joys of independent discovery always outweigh the severity of punishment. “Although my book is intended for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves, and of how they felt and thought and talked, and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in.”-Mark Twain

As part of the wonderful Collector’s Library series, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is one of the best-loved children’s classics of all time. This attractive volume contains the complete and unabridged story with 8 full color illustrations, plus numerous black & white illustrations throughout. The deluxe edition features a full piece cloth case, a four color illustrated onlay on the front cover, foil stamping on front and spine, stained edges on three sides, printed endpapers with book plate and a satin ribbon marker. This book should have an honored place in any child’s library.

Enriched Classics offer readers accessible editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and commentary. Each book includes educational tools alongside the text, enabling students and readers alike to gain a deeper and more developed understanding of the writer and their work.

Originally published in 1876, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is the classic tale of a carefree and courageous boy’s coming-of-age in a rural Mississippi River town. Tom and his best friend, Huckleberry Finn, are two of literature’s most enduring and treasured creations.

Enriched Classics enhance your engagement by introducing and explaining the historical and cultural significance of the work, the author’s personal history, and what impact this book had on subsequent scholarship. Each book includes discussion questions that help clarify and reinforce major themes and reading recommendations for further research.

Read with confidence.

Get to know Tom Sawyer and his friends as he gets into all kinds of shenanigans on the Mississippi River. In addition to being a fun experience, this beautifully narrated story teaches about friendship and knowing when to do the right thing. This adapted and condensed version of the tale by Mark Twain will introduce young audiences to the beloved characters from the original and give them a taste of the adventure-filled classic. About the 10 Minute Classics series: The 10 Minute Classics series is a great introduction to classic literature, designed to spark a love for great stories and an openness to the classics as comprehension skills progress. These short, fully illustrated stories introduce key characters, storylines, and settings to engage young audiences.

Perhaps the best-loved nineteenth-century American novel, Mark Twain’s tale of boyhood adventure overflows with comedy, warmth, and slapstick energy. It brings to life an array of irresistible characters-the awesomely self-confident Tom, his best buddy Huck Finn, indulgent Aunt Polly, and the lovely, beguiling Becky-as well as such unforgettable incidents as whitewashing a fence, swearing an oath in blood, and getting lost in a dark and labyrinthine cave. Below Tom Sawyer’s sunny surface lurk hints of a darker reality, of youthful innocence and naivete confronting the cruelty, hypocrisy, and foolishness of the adult world-a theme that would become more pronounced in Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Despite such suggestions, Tom Sawyer remains Twain’s joyful ode to the endless possibilities of childhood.

A pillar of American literature, Mark Twain’s prototypical coming-of-age introduces the iconic Tom Sawyer and his best friend Huckleberry Finn. Tom’s panache for mischief and unyielding desire for adventure commonly leads him into trouble, but quick wits and a smooth tongue always navigates him to safety. When Tom and Huck witness a murder and the culpable Injun Joe escapes justice, Tom, who testified against the bandit, is left to wonder how he will get out of yet another bind.

The sun shines on Tom Sawyer. The idealized childhood of this fictional hero, based on Mark Twain’s own early life along the banks of the Mississippi, is filled with robust good humor and high-spirited adventures. Yet there is also an in-depth experience of the central South of the 1840s–its dialects, superstitions, and social values. While romping through fun-filled fantasy, Tom Sawyer shows how morally complicated real life can be.

This reading of Tom Sawyer is especially notable for the virtuoso performance of actor Patrick Fraley. Crafting thirty-six authentic “voices” to represent the wide range of Twain’s delightful characters, Fraley proves his storytelling mastery. Hear why this is one of the world’s best-known and best-loved books, appealing to all ages.

Mark Twain’s daughter, Susy, wrote: “Papa…doesn’t like to go to church at all, why I never understood, until just now, he told us the other day that he couldn’t bear to hear any one talk but himself, but that he could listen to himself talk for hours without getting tired, of course he said this in joke, but I’ve no dought [sic] it was founded on truth.”–from the book

Here is one of the great autobiographies of the English language: exuberant, wonderfully contemporary in spirit, written by a man twice as large as life, who–he said so himself–had no trouble remembering everything that had ever happened to him, and a lot of things besides.

Nothing ever happened to Mark Twain in a small way. His adventures were invariably fraught with drama. Success and failure for him were equally spectacular. And so he roared down the years, feuding with publishers, being a sucker for inventors, always learning wisdom at the point of ruin and always relishing the absurd spectacle of humankind, whom he regarded with a blend of vitriol and affection.

Mark Twain was known as a great American short-story writer as well as novelist and humorist. This collection of eighteen of his best short stories, from the well known to the lesser known, displays his mastery of Western humor and frontier realism. The stories also show how Twain earned his place in American letters as a master writer in the authentic native idiom. He was exuberant and irreverent, but underlying the humor was a vigorous desire for social justice and equality.

Beginning the collection is Twain’s comic version of an old folk tale, “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog,” first published in 1865 in the New York Saturday Press. It became the title story of The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches, the work that established him as a leading American humorist.

Stories include:

1. “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog” 2. “The Story of the Bad Little Boy Who Didn’t Come to Grief” 3. “Cannibalism in the Cars” 4. “Journalism in Tennessee” 5. “The Story of the Good Little Boy Who Did Not Prosper” 6. “How I Edited an Agricultural Paper Once” 7. “Political Economy” 8. “A True Story, Repeated Word for Word as I Heard It” 9. “The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut” 10. “Punch, Brothers, Punch!” 11. “Jim Baker’s Blue-Jay Yarn” 12. “The Stolen White Elephant” 13. “The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm” 14. “The Private History of a Campaign That Failed” 15. “Extracts from Adam’s Diary” 16. “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” 17. “The $30,000 Bequest” 18. “Eve’s Diary”

Though known for his classic novels of adventure and coming of age, Mark Twain is equally esteemed for his short stories, which abound with the colorful characters and often comic antics readers have come to expect from his longer works. Included here is “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” a wild yarn involving a case of mistaken identity, a gambler who’d bet on anything, and an unusual frog named Daniel Webster. Originally published in the Saturday Press in 1865, the tale was immensely popular, and in 1867 an expanded version was published.

Proceeds from sale of this title go to Reach Out and Read, an innovative literacy advocacy organization.

The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today is the collaborative work of Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner that satirized the era that followed the Civil War. This period is often referred to as “The Gilded Age” because of this book. The corruption and greed that was typical of the time is exemplified through two fictional narratives: one, of the Hawkinses, a poor family from Tennessee that tries to persuade the government to purchase their seventy-five thousand acres of unimproved land; and second, of Philip Sterling and Henry Brierly, two young upper-class men who seek their fortune in land as well.

This book is widely considered one of the hundred greatest books of all time and is here to attract a whole new generation of readers, for the themes of this classic work are still relevant to our nation today.

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In June 1867, Mark Twain set out for Europe and the Holy Land on the paddle steamer Quaker City. His enduring, no-nonsense guide for the first-time traveler also served as an antidote to the insufferably romantic travel books of the period.

“Who could read the programme for the excursion without longing to make one of the party?”

So Mark Twain acclaims his voyage from New York City to Europe and the Holy Land. His adventures produced The Innocents Abroad, a book so funny and provocative it made him an international star for the rest of his life. He was making his first responses to the Old World—to Paris, Milan, Florence, Venice, Pompeii, Constantinople, Sebastopol, Balaklava, Damascus, Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem. For the first time he was seeing the great paintings and sculptures of the Old Masters. He responded with wonder and amazement but also with exasperation, irritation, and disbelief. Above all he displayed the great energy of his humor, more explosive for us now than for his beguiled contemporaries.

The title story of this collection of short stories features the tale of the “most honest and upright” town of Hadleyburg, whose residents boast of their unsmirched moral character. A stranger, offended by the pious reputation of the town, devises a plan to bring its honored residents to shame. Is there even one righteous man in Hadleyburg?

This classic tale and superb short story by Mark Twain is a funny yet blistering indictment of political hypocrisy.
A mysterious stranger is treated badly by the town of Hadleyburg-the town that proclaims itself “the most honest and upright town in the region.” Through an ingenious sting operation, the stranger sets out to expose Hadleyburg’s leading citizens and reveal their greedy, deceitful natures.
Twain’s burning wit and insight into political posturing and civic cowardice seem more pertinent than ever.

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg is a short story by Mark Twain and was published in 1899. It tells the story of the destruction of a small town (known as Hadleyburg), which is known far and wide as an honest and moral community. The people of the town enjoy the reputation of being honest. They isolated themselves and their babies from outsiders; when their children are still babies, keeping them sheltered from any kind of temptation.
However, a mysterious stranger – who has a grudge against the town during the past year for an unnamed, unrequited offence – decides to get his revenge by corrupting the town and proves that its nineteen most well-respected members are immoral and dishonest. He gives a sack – which contains $40,000 gold – to the bank cashier and leaves him a note that explains how the bank cashier should spend it.
This version of the book is translated by Farideh Eizadi to Persian (Farsi) and narrated by Bahram Sarvarinejad. The Persian version of The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg’s audiobook is published by Maktub worldwide.

This delightful collection of lesser-known gems by Mark Twain begins with the story of a town called Hadleyburg, which prides itself on the honesty of its citizens. One day a citizen of Hadleyburg offends a stranger passing through, who vows to take his revenge by revealing just how corruptible the sanctimonious town really is. Twain is at his best here, poking fun at common hypocrisy as the self-satisfied pillars of the community are done in by their own greed.

Other stories in the collection include: “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” “The One Million Pound Bank Note,” “Edward Mills and George Benton: A Tale,” “The Stolen White Elephant,” “Cannibalism in the Cars,” “The Man Who Put Up at Gadsby’s,” “The Story of the Good Little Boy,” “The Story of the Bad Little Boy,” “Baker’s Blue Jay Yarn: What Stumped the Blue Jays,” and “A Double Barreled Detective Story.”

Produced by Alcazar AudioWorks with original music by David Thorn

An unforgettable collection of Mark Twain’s best writings–witty, passionate, fiery, and nothing short of profound. This collection includes the following stories: “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County””The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut”

“Autobiographical Anecdotes””The Lesson””As Regards Patriotism””Speech on the Weather””How I Edited an Agricultural Paper””Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims””The Report of My Death””When a Book Gets Tired””The Approaching Epidemic””Letter to the Earth” “The Death of Jean”

The Mysterious Stranger, Mark Twain’s fantastical last novelette, took him twelve years-and three long drafts-to complete. Based on boyhood memories of the Mississippi River Valley and of the print shops of Hannibal, the story is set in medieval Austria at the dawn of the printing craft. It is a psychic adventure, full of phantasmagoric effects, in which a penniless printer’s apprentice-a youthful, mysterious stranger with the curious name 44-gradually reveals his otherworldly powers and the hidden possibilities of the mind. Ending on a startling note, this surprisingly existential tale reveals a darker side to the author’s genius.
The Mysterious Stranger is a rarity in the work of Twain-a story in which the author turns his sardonic, free-wheeling wit to the problem of Eternal Evil in a distant time and place. In the other stories presented here, Twain debunks his Gilded Age; he ransacks the backyards of daily life and fable to find his notorious, sometimes preposterous metaphors. He is as apt to deal with the great minds of the law hunting a wayward elephant as with a man who has a bank note no one can cash.
In addition to The Mysterious Stranger, this volume includes the stories “The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg,” “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” “The Story of the Bad Little Boy,” “The Diary of Adam and Eve,” “Edward Mills and George Benton,” “The Joke That Made Ed’s Fortune,” and “A Fable.”

Jim Smiley was a betting man. He bet on horse races, dog-fights, cat-fights, even how long it took a straddle-bug to cross the border into Mexico. If there was a bet to be made, chances were the “uncommonly lucky” Smiley was behind it. So it seemed life easy money when a gullible stranger came to town and Smiley boasted to him that his pet frog-Dan’l Webster-could “outjump any frog in Calaveras County.” But while Smiley was out scouting for the competition, the stranger came up with a plan to stop Dan’l-and Smiley-in their tracks. The publication of “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” in the Saturday Press in 1865, marked the beginnings of Mark Twain’s remarkable literary career. This collection of eight stories upholds his title as America’s greatest humorist and storyteller. Includes these stories; “A True Story”; “Jim Baker’s Blue-jay Yarn”; “The Private History of a Campaign that Failed”; “Extracts from Adam’s Diary”; “Eve’s Diary”; “The 1,000,000 Bank-Note”; and “How to Tell a Story.”

The Prince and the Pauper is a novel by Mark Twain and was published in 1881. It tells the story of two young boys (a prince and a pauper) who exchange their role temporally. They are the same age and exactly look alike. But they have a great difference: Tom Canty is a pauper who lives with his abusive, alcoholic father in Offal Court off Pudding Lane in London, Edward Tudor is Prince of Wales and son of Henry VIII of England. Prior to meeting each other, both boys have dreams of living the life of the other. Tom, dressed as Edward, tries to deal with court customs and manners. On the other hand, Edward forces to face the brutal life of a London pauper and then becomes aware of the stark class inequality in England.
Mark Twain attacks upon social hypocrisy. Also, he exposes the concept that “clothes make the man” with his satiric and irresistible comedy.
This version of the book is translated by Mohsen Soleimani to Persian (Farsi) and narrated by Noro-Al-Din Djavadian. The Persian version of The Prince and the Pauper’s audiobook is published by Maktub worldwide.

One of the more famous stories in children’ s literature, The Prince and the Pauper has become an adult classic as well. Twain’ s tall tale about a bedraggled street urchin who becomes king for a day, and his twin, the pampered Prince of Wales left to fend for himself among his seedier subjects, showcases the author’ s satirical wit and his acute sense of political irony. The scenes of a young Tom Cantry, wearing the trappings of a prince, but possessing the heart of a beggar, stir both the imagination and the heart. Hearing this familiar story read by Recorded Books‘ Norman Dietz is a delightful experience that will reintroduce the seasoned reader to our nation’ s most treasured storyteller, Mark Twain.

Originally published in 1881, Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper is a timeless tale of switched identities. After the young Prince Edward VI of England and a peasant boy switch places, the “little king” tries to escape from a world in which he must beg for food, sleep with rodents, face ridicule, and avoid assassination. Meanwhile, the peasant, who is now the prince, dreads exposure and possible execution-while members of the Court believe he has gone mad. As a result of the swap, both boys learn that social class, like so much of life, is determined by chance and random circumstance.
Originally published in 1881, The Prince and the Pauper is one of Mark Twain’s earliest social satires. With his caustic wit and biting irony, Twain satirizes the power of the monarchy, unjust laws and barbaric punishments, superstitions, and religious intolerance. Although usually viewed as a child’s story, The Prince and the Pauper offers adults critical insight into a people and time period not really all that different from our own.

A remarkable resemblance of two boys born on the same day in the sixteenth century became the basis of Mark Twain’s first try at historical fiction. He had begun writing the year before on his to-be famous Huckleberry Finn manuscript. However, he became discouraged with that story and decided to either pigeonhole it or maybe even burn it. He had come up with an idea for a play, but instead turned it into the novel you’re about to hear; that of The Prince and the Pauper. This resulted in a fable that was almost a fairy tale, one that became a fine story for young people of all ages.

There were many unjust laws in the 1500s, and Twain delved into them with his usual remarkable insight. The success also led to a resumption of the Finn adventures, thus preserving one of his major accomplishments, one that took about seven years to eventually complete. Listen now to the story of Tom Canty and Edward VI.

They look alike, but they live in very different worlds. Tom Canty, impoverished and abused by his father, is fascinated with royalty. Edward Tudor, heir to the throne of England, is kind and generous but wants to run free and play in the river—just once. How insubstantial their differences truly are becomes clear when a chance encounter leads to an exchange of clothing—and roles. The pauper finds himself caught up in the pomp and folly of the royal court, a role which is further complicated when the king dies soon after the switch; and the prince wanders horror-stricken through the lower strata of English society.

Out of the theme of switched identities, Mark Twain fashioned both a fiery assault upon social hypocrisy and injustice and a riotous comedy filled with high-spirited play.

A never-before-published, previously unfinished Mark Twain children’s story is brought to life by Caldecott Medal winners Philip Stead and Erin Stead.
 
In a hotel in Paris one evening in the 1879, Mark Twain sat with his young daughters, who begged their father for a story. Choosing a picture from a magazine to get started, Twain began telling them the tale of Johnny, a poor boy in possession of some magical seeds, who finds himself on a quest to rescue a stolen prince. Later, Twain would jot down some rough notes about the story, but the tale was left unfinished . . . until now.
 
Plucked from the Mark Twain archives at the University of California, Berkeley, Twain’s notes now form the foundation of a fairy tale picked up over a century later. With only Twain’s fragmentary script and a story that stops partway as his guide, author Philip Stead has written a tale that imagines what might have been if Twain had fully realized this work. This is a story that reaches through time and brings us the debut children’s book of America’s most legendary writer, envisioned by one of today’s most important names in children’s literature.
 
Read by Keegan-Michael Key and Philip Stead, with Mark Bramhall as the voice of Mark Twain, Julia Whelan as Susy Clemens, and an Editor’s Note read by Frances Gilbert.

David Wilson has earned the unfortunate nickname “Pudd’nhead” from his fellow townspeople, who fail to understand his combination of wisdom and eccentricity. However, he is eventually able to redeem himself by simultaneously solving a murder mystery and a case of transposed identities.

Two children, a white boy and a mulatto, are born on the same day. Roxy, mother of the mulatto and a slave, is given charge of the children; in fear that her son will be sold, she switches the babies.

The mulatto, though he grows up as a white boy, turns out to be a scoundrel. He sells his mother and murders and robs his uncle. He accuses Luigi, one of a pair of twins, of the murder. Pudd’nhead, a lawyer, undertakes Luigi’s defense. On the basis of fingerprint evidence, he exposes the real murderer, and the white boy takes his rightful place.

This classic book, full of grim humor and Twain’s trademark style,implicitly condemns a society that allows slavery. It concludes with a series of witty aphorisms from Pudd’nhead’s calendar.

Two half brothers look so similar as infants that no one can tell them apart. One, the legitimate son of a rich man, is destined for a life of comfort, while the other is condemned to be a slave because he is part black. The mother of the would-be slave is also the nurse of the other; to give her son the best life possible, she switches the babies. Soon the boy who is given every advantage becomes spoiled and cruel. He takes sadistic pleasure in tormenting his half brother. As they grow older, the townspeople no longer notice that the boys look similar, and they readily accept that each is born to his station.
A local lawyer, David Wilson, has had a similar experience. On his first day in the village, he made an odd remark about a dog, and the townspeople gave him the condescending name “Pudd’nhead.” Although he was a young, intelligent lawyer, he is unable to live down this name, so he toils in obscurity for over twenty years. Finally, he is presented with a complex murder trial-a chance to prove himself to the townspeople and shake this unjust label.

Tom Sawyer est publié en 1876 et remporte un succès immédiat. Son auteur, Mark Twain vient du sud des États-Unis, et c’est dans ce contexte régional et culturel qu’il situe les histoires de deux jeunes amis, Tom Sawyer et Huckleberry Finn, témoins malgré eux d’un meurtre ! Sur les bords du Mississipi, les deux garçons vont apprendre le courage et l’amitié.

When Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn join together, a rousing adventure is never far behind. In this classic tale, Tom and Huck might be in for more than even they can handle when they are kidnapped by a mad scientist in a balloon-powered airship. His unscrupulous plan is to end his flight around the world in a fiery crash-taking Tom and Huck with him. Now Tom must depend on his Mississippi River experiences to save him from new dangers.

The irrepressible Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, always looking for trouble, find it again in Tom Sawyer Abroad, Twain’s once-celebrated but now little-known sequel to his classics The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Tom and Huck have both ranged the length of the Mississippi, but, as Huck declares, “Do you reckon Tom Sawyer was satisfied after all them adventures?…No, he wasn’t. It only just pisoned him for more.” So the two boys head off to see the unveiling of a futuristic airship—only to be kidnapped by its mad inventor! But when the inventor goes overboard in a storm, it’s up to Tom and Huck to take control of the airship as it heads out over the seething ocean toward the unknown. Yonder they will encounter robbers, lions, Bedouins, and the perils of the Sahara in their very own Arabian adventure.

Continuing in the aftermath of the preceding book Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer cannot seem to stay out of trouble. Traveling across the Atlantic in a hot air balloon, Tom, Huck, and Jim are in quite a predicament.Listen to this classic, literary masterpiece, following the adventures of Tom, Huck, and Jim as they find themselves in the hands of a crazy inventor.

Tom, Huck, and Jim begin a new journey to Africa aboard a futuristic hot-air balloon! As they navigate encounters with lions, robbers, and fleas, they also experience some of the world’s most interesting and greatest wonders. This classic is the perfect listen for audiences of all ages and encapsulates the essence of American literature.

A return trip down the Mississippi River to Uncle Silas’ farm is just the beginning of a yarn that includes Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, a diamond heist, a confidence man, twins, a murder, and enough twists and turns to satisfy an avid mystery fan. A sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Tom Sawyer Abroad, this is Mark Twain’s satirical take on the immensely popular detective novels of the time. As Tom attempts to solve a mysterious murder, Mark Twain examines the social customs, legal system, and family expectations of the time as only he could. Once a staple of juvenile fiction, then banned as politically incorrect, Twain’s forgotten classic brings to life its time and place.

This 1896 novel follows the Mark Twain series of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), and Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894). Tom finds himself on another exciting adventure as he serves as detective for a mysterious murder in the banks of the Mississippi. Listen to this suspenseful, yet whimsical story of Tom and Huckleberry and be fascinated once again with Mark Twain’s imagination.

As springtime comes, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn have developed a bad case of spring fever. When Tom’s Aunt Sally invites them to Arkansas, their malady is instantly cured. But as the duo sets out on their steamer to get down river, they learn that Tom’s Uncle Silas is in considerable trouble and needs their help. This classic is the perfect listen for audiences of all ages and encapsulates the essence of American literature.

In A Tramp Abroad, the ever adventurous Mark Twain brings his wit and creativity to his travels in Europe. Twain takes fictional liberty, turning his travels into an entertaining journey as he visits many of the countries of Central Europe. Listeners are sure to be delighted and humored as they enjoy what is considered by many to be one of Mark Twain’s best works.

Though known for his classic novels of adventure and coming of age, Mark Twain is equally esteemed for his short stories, which abound with the colorful characters and often comic antics readers have come to expect from his longer works. Included here are two of his most beloved short stories: “The Story of the Bad Little Boy Who Didn’t Come to Grief” and “The Story of the Good Little Boy Who Did Not Prosper.”

Proceeds from sale of this title go to Reach Out and Read, an innovative literacy advocacy organization.

“[Twain] was, in the phrase of his friend William Dean Howells, ‘the Lincoln of our literature’… At the heart of his work lies that greatest of all American qualities: irreverence.”
— Washington Post

“More than 100 years after [Twain] wrote these stories, they remain not only remarkably funny but remarkably modern…. Ninety-nine years after his death, Twain still manages to get the last laugh.”
— Vanity Fair

Who Is Mark Twain? is a collection of twenty six wickedly funny, thought-provoking essays by Samuel Langhorne Clemens–aka Mark Twain–none of which have ever been published before, and all of which are completely contemporary, amazingly relevant, and gut-bustingly hilarious.